Index Archive

18 September 2014

Eight Facts Scotland independence Voting Counting Results ReferendumScotland is a country that covers the northern third of the island of Great Britain and is part of the United Kingdom.

1-People in Scotland have begun voting on whether the country should stay in the UK or become an independent nation.Voting got under way across Scotland at 07:00 on ThursdayScotland's first minister Alex Salmond voted in the Aberdeenshire village of Strichen

2-Voters will answer "Yes" or "No" to the referendum question: "Should Scotland be an independent country?"

3-With 4,285,323 people - 97% of the electorate - registered to vote

4-Votes will be cast at 2,608 polling places across the country until 22:00 on Thursday.

5-The result is expected early on Friday morning

6-Broadcasters are not allowed to report details of campaigning until after the polls close.

7-Procedure Vote and Counting –Helicopters and boats are being used to transport ballot boxes to counts in areas such as Argyll and Bute.Once the polls have closed, ballot papers will be counted in each of Scotland's 32 local authority areas.

These will include votes cast from the 789,024 postal vote applications, which was the largest volume of registration for postal votes ever in Scotland.

After votes have been tallied, the counting officer in each area will communicate the result to the chief counting officer Mary Pitcaithly in Edinburgh.

With her approval they will then make a declaration of the result.

8-Once the results from all 32 local authority areas are known, Ms Pitcaithly will declare the result of the referendum at the Royal Highland Centre outside Edinburgh.

Ms Pitcaithly has said she will announce the result at "breakfast time" on Friday.

The result is most likely to be between 06:30 and 07:30, according to Elections Scotland.

Elections Scotland said recounts will only be allowed at a local level on the basis of concerns about process, not the closeness of a result.